Assange announced his intentions late last year and is now putting himself forward as a candidate of the newly formed WikiLeaks Party from the state of Victoria in the Australian Senate as part of the September 14, 2013 federal election. The party has yet to be formally registered with the Australian Electoral Commission and does not show up yet on its website.

The domain names wikileaksparty.com and wikileaksparty.org—neither of which are live—are registered to Tim Neal of Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia—264 kilometers (164 miles) southwest of Melbourne. Neal appears to be a deputy national president of the Australian Democrats party. Neal also seems to have been a candidate for Senate in the past, according to a Facebook page.

The WikiLeaks founder was granted asylum and has been living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for several months now. There, Assange is under near-constant surveillance by the Metropolitan Police. Should Assange leave the embassy, he would likely be apprehended and extradited to Sweden, where he faces questions in a criminal investigation of alleged sexual assault.

His supporters say that should Assange win the seat and be unable to fulfill it remotely from the embassy, he could nominate another person to take it in his stead.

John Shipton, Assange's father and an Australian architect, will be the chief executive of the new party.

"I think there's a lot of support for Julian and even more support for what Julian stands for," Mr Shipton told the Australian Associated Press. "The party stands for what Julian espouses—transparency and accountability in government and of course human rights."

There's a lot more support for him than the main stream media will acknowledge. This could be an interesting side-show in an already confusing election year for us here in Oz.

The need for wikileaks is becoming more, not less evident with the administrations worldwide using secrecy and trumped up terror charges as a weapon against their own citizens - US against whistle blowers, US agains citizens with drone attacks, US against world with drone attacks, Russia against anything vaguely open or democratic with jail and torture, China and its growing nationalism...

Or you could just buy into the hate campaign brought to you by those who would maintain this, it's easier than a little critical thought after all...

Assange is a typical celebrity spotlight fiend, doing anything to stay in the spot light.

He hasn't done anything in 2 years, wiki leaks has been at an all time low for any kind of release. People question sending wikileaks anything big because it will get traced back to them.

Wikileaks is dead in the water until assange steps away from it. but since wikileaks is more about his ego than proving governments wrong he can't.

Also with extradition treaties already in place he can't a leave London, or be walk into Australia without being arrested and deported. Does he not read anything? Australia will extradite him without question. So how will he do that job?

If he wins the seat... wont he get some kind of political immunity to walk out of the embassy?

Just curious...

No. Host nations are not obliged to give immunity to any arbitrary person the foreign nation chooses, no matter their political status back home.

People with diplomatic immunity who commit crimes are generally deported to their country of origin, with the assumption that they will be prosecuted by their own government. If Assange were to have diplomatic immunity (which is very tenuous), he could just go home to Australia. On the one hand, this could mean that he would be less likely to be extradited to the US.

If, on the other hand, this is all a charade, and Assange is, in fact, guilty of rape, getting deported to Australia could be an unfavorable alternative to hanging out in the Ecaudorian embassy indefinitely, as the Swedish prosecutors could just follow him there and try him for rape under Australian law.

Edit: this "diplomatic immunity" discussion is a bit off-topic, and is a moot point. There is basically no way Assange could get retroactive diplomatic immunity. My point is that it would not necessarily be to his benefit if he did.

If, on the other hand, this is all a charade, and Assange is, in fact, guilty of rape, getting deported to Australia could be an unfavorable alternative to hanging out in the Ecaudorian embassy indefinitely, as the Swedish prosecutors could just follow him there and try him for rape under Australian law.

Whatever you think of the man, he hasn't even been accused of rape. There are no charges against him at all, even within Sweden. And if he were deported to Australia, there are no laws in this country with which he could be charged since our sexual assault laws are somewhat less absurd than Sweden's.

Of course standing for senate is a step to raise awareness of wikileaks and his cause. That's pretty much why any politician stands for government: they believe they have some policy to offer which people will want to vote for.

Personally I think he will receive a great number of votes. People are quite disaffected with politicians and someone who has the guts to stand up for what they believe in will be seen in a positive light. And I think most people reading Ars at least believe in the basic concepts of transparency and open government.

There's a lot more support for him than the main stream media will acknowledge. This could be an interesting side-show in an already confusing election year for us here in Oz.

Really?

I support Assange and Wikileaks more than anybody I have ever met in person, I even grew up near where he grew up, but hell will freeze over before I vote for Assange. He is not fit for a position on the Senate, sorry.

I had to sign up to correct this, as the media on it has gotten out of hand.

Assange has NOT filed to run for the senate. Nobody can until the writs are issued in several months time.Assange has just submitted a form to be registered to vote.

The Wikileaks Party has a lot of work ahead to register as a party in time for the September election, and I wish them the best of luck.

If the Wikileaks Party doesn't get up in time, Assange could always run as an independent candidate, but he will be not be able to be in a Wikileaks grouping and could not direct above the line preferences.

People with diplomatic immunity who commit crimes are generally deported to their country of origin, with the assumption that they will be prosecuted by their own government. If Assange were to have diplomatic immunity (which is very tenuous), he could just go home to Australia. On the one hand, this could mean that he would be less likely to be extradited to the US.

If, on the other hand, this is all a charade, and Assange is, in fact, guilty of rape, getting deported to Australia could be an unfavorable alternative to hanging out in the Ecaudorian embassy indefinitely, as the Swedish prosecutors could just follow him there and try him for rape under Australian law.

The point is, diplomatic immunity is the result of negotiation, not something that can be declared unilaterally. Even if Assange was elected, that wouldn't give him automatic immunity. Even if the Australian government requested immunity for him, the UK government would be completely within their rights to turn it down, not least because he's already got a European Arrest Warrant out for him and has violated the terms of his parole in the UK.

If, on the other hand, this is all a charade, and Assange is, in fact, guilty of rape, getting deported to Australia could be an unfavorable alternative to hanging out in the Ecaudorian embassy indefinitely, as the Swedish prosecutors could just follow him there and try him for rape under Australian law.

Whatever you think of the man, he hasn't even been accused of rape. There are no charges against him at all, even within Sweden. And if he were deported to Australia, there are no laws in this country with which he could be charged since our sexual assault laws are somewhat less absurd than Sweden's.

He hasn't been charged with rape, because under Swedish law, he can't be charged until he has received a formal interview, and he can't receive one of those until he is in physical custody. That's why he's avoiding extradition at all costs, because he knows that as soon as he is extradited to Sweden, charges will be a formality, and as long as he stays out of Sweden, he can hide behind that figleaf that they can't actually charge him. It's also why the UK courts approved his extradition, because the judges understand the way Swedish law works and the fact that even though he's not formally charged, the European Arrest Warrant is valid and that the Swedish prosecution has shown that they have sufficient evidence to press criminal charges once they have him in custody.

"The party stands for what Julian espouses—transparency and accountability in government and of course lack of accountability for sexual assailants."

FTFY. The dude has international attention and will be treated like an endangered species' DDT-impacted egg on his way to trial. The only thing he has to fear is the trial. It's not like Sweden cozies up to the U.S. government, either.

If he wins the seat... wont he get some kind of political immunity to walk out of the embassy?

Just curious...

No. Host nations are not obliged to give immunity to any arbitrary person the foreign nation chooses, no matter their political status back home.

Just to point out where you are wrong, no government such as the UK would stop a stealth blackhawk from landing and picking up the U.S. embassador, to be escorted by air cover to an aircraft carrier and naval armada off the coast for transport back home.

There's a lot more support for him than the main stream media will acknowledge. This could be an interesting side-show in an already confusing election year for us here in Oz.

The need for wikileaks is becoming more, not less evident with the administrations worldwide using secrecy and trumped up terror charges as a weapon against their own citizens - US against whistle blowers, US agains citizens with drone attacks, US against world with drone attacks, Russia against anything vaguely open or democratic with jail and torture, China and its growing nationalism...

Or you could just buy into the hate campaign brought to you by those who would maintain this, it's easier than a little critical thought after all...

when did being pursued by law enforcement for raping two women turn into a hate campaign?

his supporters are wrong. He must be present to vote and cannot nominate a proxy. If, for any reason he cannot attend parliament for 1 year, he is no longer a senator (assuming he even gets in)

If he has a Wikileaks Party and he wins a seat, and the UK does not permit him to travel back to Australia to take up his position, he can resign and the party can then appoint any member of the Wikileaks Party in his place (see Bob Carr's unelected senate position)

EDIT: I might be wrong on that one. If he never makes it back to be sworn in, it could be a count back of the next candidate, which if he is running in a Wikileaks Party group ticket, should fall to his running mate.

Please help support freedom of the press and freedom of information by sponsoring Julian Assange for the Nobel prize for freedom of the press: Google: Avaaz.org "Julian Assange for Nobel prize "Freedom of the Press"" and vote!PLEASE HELP PROMOTE THIS LINK.